We’re thrilled to announce the winners of CoAct’s 2022 Excellence Awards, awarded at CoAct’s 25th anniversary Gala Evening in Brisbane. The event coincided with the annual ConnectUp conference, which embraced the theme of ‘Connect. Collaborate. Succeed’.

This year’s awards program was an opportunity to showcase and celebrate the exceptional reputation and success of the CoAct network in providing sustainable employment opportunities for those who need it most.

The night was extra special as it’s been three years since the CoAct network has gathered together in person and celebrated our high achievers.

To present the awards, we were joined by friends of CoAct Sally Sinclair, CEO of National Employment Services Association, and Rick Kane, CEO of Disability Employment Australia.

A big congratulations to all winners!

Award winners

jobactive and Transition to Work

Site performance: jobactive

Our site performance awards celebrate excellence in service delivery. They showcase sites that embody CoAct’s vision and values.  

BUSY At Work

• Atherton 
• Emerald 
• Gympie (Exceptional performance: 5 Star Since Dec 2017) 
• Mossman 
• Noosaville 
• Port Douglas 
• Smithfield (Exceptional performance: 5 Star Since Dec 2017) 

Community Solutions

• Cannonvale (Exceptional performance: 5 Star Since Dec 2016) 

Impact Community Services

• Childers (5 Star Performance on last Star Ratings) 

Leadership 

Recognising service partner staff who have demonstrated exceptional leadership in supporting their peers and customers by embodying CoAct’s values.  

• Belynda Young, Business Manager, BUSY At Work 

Beynda has worked in the jobactive program for BUSY at Work since contract commencement in 2016.  

During this time she’s not only led her Cairns team but supported other BUSY teams in leading the network in performance. 

Her leadership of her team has been demonstrated in recent times with the expansion of BUSY sites in the Cairns and Townsville regions.  

Belynda was instrumental in getting sites operational under short time frames. She did this while continuing to lead her existing teams to deliver strong performance.  

Belynda, we thank you for your dedication and would like to acknowledge your contribution to our network. 

Customer Satisfaction

Recognising the site with the highest customer satisfaction rating, based on feedback from the CoAct Net Promoter Score program.  

• IMPACT Childers 

 Innovation 

Acknowledging service partners who used innovative approaches to address barriers to employment and create a lasting impact on people’s lives.    

• Youth Projects, Here4Hospitality program (Transition to Work) 

Here4Hospitality is an intensive, industry-specific job readiness program supporting 

young people living with different abilities to participate in experiential learning, immersive training and transition into industry traineeships. 

Young people aged 16 to 25 years who are living with autism, an intellectual disability, and/or a psychosocial disability have an opportunity to participate in Here4Hospitality to be ready and prepared for meaningful employment in the Hospitality industry. 

 Outstanding performance – Transition to Work

• Youth Projects: Exceptional performance, TTW 

 DES Awards

Site performance 

Recognising high-performing sites across the network that achieved 5-star performance in 2021 and 2022. 

Community Solutions 

• Mackay 

Interact

• Goulburn Valley 
• Hobart 
• Ipswich  
• Launceston  
• Southern Adelaide  

MS Limited

• ACT/Queanbeyan NSW
• Bayside  
• Central West Sydney 
• Hobart 

MS Queensland

• South Brisbane

MS WA

• East Metro WA 

VisAbility

• East Metro WA 

Youth Projects 

• Calder 

Leadership

Recognising service partner staff who have demonstrated exceptional leadership in supporting their peers and customers by embodying CoAct’s values.  

• Annette Borrowdale, Recruitment Partner, Interact 

During the height of the Covid pandemic, Annette organised and dropped food parcels to members of the Afghan community who were on stay-at-home orders under Covid isolation. This was critical support within the local community given the number of families in Shepparton with language barriers who were unable to navigate the changing Covid rules and restrictions. 

In addition to this, Annette also initiated contact with local doctors to organise covid vaccination appointments for both families within the Afghan and Sudanese communities – another critical service given the level of vulnerability many of these families faced. 

In August 2021, the Taliban in Afghanistan entered the Presidential Palace and took control of the capital city. This impacted the same community in Shepparton by cutting any contact they had with their families overseas in Afghanistan. Annette worked closely with both the Community Ethics Council of Shepparton and South Shepparton Neighbourhood Centre to organise and open a line of contact to Afghanistan, re-establishing contact for the many families impacted in the local community. 

 Customer satisfaction

Recognising the DES ESA with the highest customer satisfaction rating, based on feedback from the CoAct Net Promoter Score program.  

• Interact Hobart 

 Employer connection

Recognising exceptional frontline staff who have driven sustainable job opportunities by fostering strong employer relationships and developing innovative workforce solutions.  

• Michelle White, Performance and Partnership Leader, Interact 

Michelle, along with the North Brisbane ESA Team for Interact were nominated for their work with Mount Isa Mining Company Sandvik and the extraordinary success they had helping to create a bespoke role for one of their Brisbane based customers, relocating them to Mount Isa and achieving ongoing sustainable employment.  

Michelle and her team were nominated for demonstrating their commitment to thinking outside of the box and not letting the opportunities of their own ESA in periods of lockdown impact their ability to achieve career level opportunities for their customers. 

 Innovation

• VisAbility, Print Disability Program 

As a provider of specialist DES services, VisAbility understands all too well the challenges their customers face interacting with accessible material. They were one of two providers who applied for and won funding to deliver accessible print services. The funding has allowed VisAbility to deliver services at no cost to all network customers nationally, that allows them to have any print services converted into accessible formats, including large print, easy read English, braille and audio files.